More accurately, men and women whose very existence defies history. Holocaust survivors, some over a century old, who had endured the worst of what humanity can inflict. Ghettos, gas chambers, forced marches; the industrial murder of their people. I was honoured to speak to individuals who rebuilt their lives from ash and silence.
I am not Jewish (I am Roman Catholic). Still, as the grandson of a Second World War 8th US Army veteran, I carry a deep sense of reverence and responsibility toward that history. This week, as I stood before those survivors to speak about Gaza, about the disinformation war, and Israel, I was not offering sympathy. In some ways, I felt as if I was bearing witness, but most importantly, I was pledging solidarity.
Their questions were sharp, dignified, and profoundly unsettling. More than one survivor remarked, with clarity and calm, almost in passing, that the atmosphere in Britain today reminds them of Germany in the 1930s. They did not mean the gas chambers, of course; but the permissiveness, the slander, and the strange quiet of broader society. The sudden social permission to despise Jews once more. In that moment, I understood more clearly than ever why I love Israel as a country.
I have visited Israel numerous times. I have walked the streets of Jerusalem, explored the borders of the Golan, and met soldiers, teachers, Israeli Arabs, and Druze. However, nothing could prepare me for what I witnessed visiting the sites of 7th October.
I walked through the ruins of Be’eri and Kfar Aza. I stood in safe rooms blackened by fire, rooms that had become tombs. I saw bloodied mattresses, burnt toys, and walls riddled with bullets. I listened to survivors recount what was done to women, to children and the elderly for the crime of being Jewish. It was not war. It was slaughter. It was an act of ethnic hatred so deliberate, so barbaric, that one cannot look at it and walk away unchanged.
Now, just twenty months later and every month since that horror, activists, academics, influencers, and politicians accuse Israel of committing a “holocaust” in Gaza. They call it a genocide and equate the defensive war of a sovereign state with the systematic extermination of six million Jews. There is a word for this:
Obscenity
The war in Gaza is brutal and tragic. It has been poorly managed in parts, undermined by internal Israeli politics and fluctuating pressure from the Biden administration. Civilian suffering is undeniable.
However, the war was initiated by Hamas:
It was Hamas that shattered a ceasefire and unleashed carnage on 7th October.
It is Hamas that embeds itself among civilians.
It is Hamas that evades all responsibility for the catastrophe it has created – yet it is Israel and Jews more broadly who are held entirely to account.
This is not just morally wrong. It is morally depraved. The word “genocide” has been weaponised not to protect life, but to smear the one country in the world that exists to prevent another genocide of the Jewish people.
If Israel’s military campaign in Gaza were a genocide, Gaza would no longer exist. Israel has the power to flatten it entirely. It has not. It has taken costly, often dangerous steps to mitigate civilian harm, even as Hamas exploits that caution. Thanks to a stunningly successful information warfare campaign by Hamas and their Qatari allies, the chants grow louder, the lies grow bolder, and the mobs grow angrier.
Now, in almost parodic apotheosis of this moral vacuity, we see Iranian flags being waved in the heart of London. Just today, demonstrators in Parliament Square carried the banner of the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. A regime that funds Hamas, armed Hezbollah, trained the Houthis, and openly vows to wipe Israel off the map. They carried that flag through the streets of Britain, possibly from ignorance (if we are being generous), but mostly in defiance due to their hatred of Israel for daring to defend itself. In their twisted minds, this outweighs any concern for the fact that they are cheering on a theocratic terror state and an enemy of this country. It is not activism; it is allegiance to evil.
Protesters in Parliament Square on 14 June called for the Israeli attack on Iran to stop (Credit: Guy Smallman/Getty).
This war, which has been fought on seven fronts, is not merely between Israel and Hamas. It is Iran’s war. Hamas pulled the trigger, but Iran constructed the weapon. Iran provided the ammunition, Iran gave the fire control order, and Iran hopes the world’s moral confusion will result in targets falling when hit.
Not today. Israel has finally, and rightly, stopped waiting for the West to catch up. It is taking the fight to Iran to ensure its survival. This is not an escalation. It is a necessary action to prevent a genuine second Holocaust.
This dynamism and action are what make Israel different. This is why I love the place. Not because it is perfect (because it is not—balagan!), but because it is necessary. It serves as the firewall between Jewish existence and annihilation. It does not wait for pity; it acts, endures, and fights back.
However, as those Holocaust survivors this week proved to me, British Jews, along with Jewish communities throughout the diaspora, do not have the same sense of security. They are few, and once again, they are made to feel like outsiders in the countries they consider home.
In Britain, synagogues and Jewish events require tight security. A Jewish business risks being vandalised for existing. A Jewish student on campus is shouted down, deplatformed, or worse, simply for expressing pride in the only Jewish state. Israel may not need our sympathy, but British Jews need our solidarity.
If the memory of the Holocaust means anything, it must mean this: that Jews should never have to walk alone, ever again. When Holocaust survivors, the last living witnesses to humanity’s darkest abyss, tell us that the atmosphere in Britain today reminds them of 1930s Germany, they are not speculating. They are remembering. That is not a warning to be debated; it is one to be heeded.
The only question remaining is whether their neighbours; you, me, all of us; will stand with them now, while it still matters. I implore you to do so.
About the writer:
A veteran of three grueling tours of Afghanistan, Major Andrew Fox holds a Batchelor’s degree in Law & Politics, a Master’s in Military History & War Studies, and is currently studying for a PhD in History.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
A week’s holiday in Israel’s southern seaside resort during war presents some illuminating thoughts beyond sea and sun.
By David E. Kaplan
Before setting off to the beach I stepped into two bookstores. It presented the first clue signifying a fundamental change from visiting Eilat in years gone by when there were always robust English sections and prominently displaced – no more! Such as there were, were now tucked away; one had to look for it and when found, they displayed few recently published books in English, mainly the old classics – good to read but also having read. So, I saw Melville’s Moby Dick and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings – as if obligatory presentations – but no sight of a latest Follett or Baldacci bestseller. Afterall, it was the beach I was heading to, not an English lit tutorial! While hot outside at a sweltering 36 degrees, there was little hot on the bookshelves – in English. The reason was soon obvious; why stock a merchandise if there are no customers and clearly, there are no foreign English-speaking tourists from abroad coming to Eilat.
It was soon evident there were no foreign tourist coming from anywhere!
Turquoise and Tranquil. View from the writer’s hotel balcony overlooking the Red Sea with Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the left and Egypt on the right. (Photo: D.E. Kaplan)
This observation was all too evident walking along the long beautifully renovated beach tayelet (promenade) splicing a path between the long line of majestic hotels on one side and the emerald green merging into turquoise of the Red Sea on the other. It was packed – day and night – and to walk it was like threading a needle but there was another conspicuous difference from the not-too-distant past. Whereas previously Hebrew was a ‘foreign language’ on the promenade as one walked past conversations in French, English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and German. Today, the lingua franca is emphatically Hebrew as the tourists here in their multitude were all local Israelis.
With enemy ballistic missiles from Yemen directed mostly at central Israel, the concern here may not be existential but it is certainly financial. Being a resort city dependent on foreign tourism, Eilat is being hard hit by the war and is a microcosm of the situation vis-à-vis Israel and the Jewish world. Foreign tourists seeking sea and sun have stopped coming to Eilat and Israelis – feeling increasingly isolated by rampant antisemitism abroad and few airlines flying to Israel because of the Houthi missiles aimed at Ben Gurion Airport – flock to Eilat.
Splendid and Serene. Four countries that were once at war but no more as seen from Israel’s Eilat beach with Egypt on the righ and Jordan and Saudi Arabia on the left. (Photo: D.E. Kaplan)
Actually, the bookstores should not have been the first clue of this now presently flawed gem!
Frequent visitors to Eilat over the years will recall when the airport was in the center of town and the planes would approach the runway from the sea, skimming over the roofs of the hotels, it used to be a fun pastime while lying on the beach – particularly with kids – to count the incoming planes and to identify the airline from the logos – that’s how close they flew in to land. I recall times when they used to come in at intervals of 5 minutes, with planes flying directly to Eilat from cities across Europe and Russia. Now the new airport – Ramon International – is approximately 20 kilometers north of Eilat and as my wife and I drove past heading to Eilat, we saw not ONE plane fly in, nor could we see any planes parked. There was not a plane in sight, either in the air or the ground.
It didn’t register as significant then until hours later we processed on the promenade – No Foreign Tourists!
Desert Dreams. As seen from Eilat, a close-up of the lettering of Marsa Zayed boldly embedded into the Jordanian mountain. (Photo: D.E. Kaplan)
Lying on a deckchair under palm trees at the beach in front of the hotel was sheer joy. Far removed visually and atmospherically from war, my eyes scanned from left to right, taking in the ochre-colored mountains of Jordan, followed in the distance by Saudi Arabia and then across the Red Sea dotted by moving and at varying speeds, yachts, power boats and jet skis – Egypt. All so pleasantly peaceful. Dreams and visions for the future were all to visually evident. On the Israeli side, new residential building was sprouting out the desert scaling the mountain side, while to the left on the mountain of Jordan above the port of Aqaba, was a huge sign embedded into the mountain. The writing was so big that one did not require binoculus sitting in Eilat to read the two words – Marsa Zayed. “What did it mean?” I wondered and was puzzled why it was spelt so boldly in English and not in Arabic. Curiosity got the better of me, so I Googled and leant that Marsa means “harbor” or “anchorage” and that Mara Zayed is a $10 billion redevelopment project named after sheikh Zayed Bin Saltan Al Nahyan, an Emerati royal politician, philanthropist and founder of the United Arab Emirates and served as its first president from its independence on 2 December 1971.
Aqaba Awakening. An artist’s impression of Aqaba’s $10 billion Marsa Zayed development project that will comprise a marina, high-rise, hotels as well as retail, residential, entertainment and financial districts. The white tower in the center is clearly visible from the beaches in Eilat.
The project will consist of a marina, high-rise, hotels, retail, residential, entertainment and financial districts. This is Jordans only coastline and is only 16 miles (26 Km) long, the country with the fourth shortest in the world but nevertheless plans to make the most of it. Size does not matter – one has only to look at Monaca with the world’s shortest coastal frontage – a mere 2.5 miles of Mediterranean coastline but boasts home to over 12,000 millionaires.
Jubilant Jordanians. At the Marsa Zayed project initiation ceremony in Aqaba which will transform a 320-hectare section of Red Sea beachfront into a tourism and business hub. The name MARSA ZAYED can be seen in the center halfway up the mountain.
No shortage of coastline is Egypt with its Red Sea Riviera immensely popular for its year-round warm weather, its white sand beaches and world-renowned diving.
I reflected on the name of Eilat’s tayelet called the “Peace Promenade” and the plan for it to eventually run from Taba in Egypt’s Sinai through to Aqaba in Jordan. Both countries are contractually at peace with Israel if not with any great public enthusiasm or support, but the vision and the potential is there, particularly if Saudi Arabia , which I could clearly make out to the south, joins in a post-Gaza war, the Abrahams Accord.
Music and Musings. A staple of Eilat’s nightlife, the popular ‘Three Monkeys’ on the promenade offers live music nightly and has been attracting a diverse and dynamic crowd since its creation. Usually filled with foreign tourists, at present because of the war, mostly Israelis.
Trade and tourism not tumult I thought as I doused myself with more sunscreen lotion. The only danger today was the sun’s rays and I hoped on my next visit to Eilat, the bookstores will again be replete with English books!
Feature picture: Eilat’s coastal frontage of beaches and hotels with the city center to the left.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Recently there have been rumors of President Trump changing the name of the Persian Gulf to the “Arabian Gulf”, causing great concern and even anger among millions of Iranians. At the same time, there are ongoing reports about the US making a deal with the evil Iranian Islamic regime, concerning Israelis, Iranians, and Americans alike. As Trump visits the Middle East and will overfly the body of water separating Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, it is important to look at what this means today, historically, and the long-term implications for the future.
While I applaud any effort to undermine, weaken, and eliminate the Islamic regime which should be a US priority, the idea of renaming the Persian Gulf and negotiating with the ayatollahs are contradictory, and in the end strengthen the regime.
A Gulf Apart. Ahead of his trip to the Middle East, President Trump floated changing the name of the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Gulf, infuriating Iran and its people. The body of water has been called the Persian Gulf since at least 550 B.C.
The Persian Gulf is a body of water that separates Persia (Iran) from the hub of the Arab world. Indeed, changing the name of the Persian Gulf will be a slap in the face to the Islamic Republic, but one they will use to rally support against the US, with renewed chants of “Death to America”, and perpetuate suffering of the Iranian people.
It will cause anger among average Iranians, as it is one of the few physical reminders in the world of the name Persia, and its rich culture which they yearn to restore, free from the atrocities of the Islamic Republic which most Iranians reject. The term Persian connects Iranians with their national identity beginning with King Cyrus, the first king of the Persian Empire, considered the father of the Iranian people, from the sixth century BCE.
Iranians also know that Arabs have tried many times to destroy Persian culture and its heritage, starting in the seventh century when Arabs conquered Persia. Persia was forced into the Islamic world, and Islam was forced on the Persian people. The rise of Islam in Persia and forced conversion of Persians still feels like a foreign ideology where Islam was not indigenous. Throughout history, Persians – today Iranians – fought to restore their culture and national inheritance.
The 1979 Islamic Revolution was another invasion of Iran by extremist Muslims like Ayatollah Khomeini and others, whose origin and ideology were not Persian, but Arab. Iran has been occupied and ruled by evil ayatollahs whose intention is to erase Persian history, purging Iranians’ identity and culture, while forcing them to extremist Islam. They initiated a system of hate and brainwashing to build walls around their own brutal illegitimate rule. There is no religious freedom, and anyone who converts to any other religion would face prison, torture, and even execution.
Miraculously, I was spared death by hanging because of my faith. Millions of others have not been so lucky.
Further purging Persian culture and history, Iranians are forbidden to visit the tombs of Biblical giants such as King Cyrus, Daniel, Esther, and Mordecai, among other pillars of Persian history.
Intimidated by History. For at least a decade, authorities have restricted access to Cyrus’s tomb at Pasargadae, deploying security forces to prevent large gatherings due to concerns that these might escalate into anti-state protests. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the state has increasingly suppressed celebrations of pre-Islamic heritage, viewing them as potential threats to the Islamic state’s authority.
There’s been an awaking among young Iranians who understand that Islam is the root of their problem, and the ayatollahs are their true enemies; that Iran has been occupied by Islamic extremists with no respect for Persian culture and history.
King Cyrus is a great example to many. He did not bring peace and stability by undermining the history of other nations. Instead, he helped Persians, and other great nations like the Jewish people, rebuild their history and culture. He facilitated the return of the Jewish people to the Land of their fathers after 70 years of exile, rebuilding the Temple, and restoring their ancient prosperity.
King Cyrus is also recognized for his achievements in human rights, politics, and military strategy. The Cyrus Cylinder is the world’s first charter of human rights, providing the basis for the first four articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and translated into all six official languages of the United Nations.
Ancient ‘Bill of Rights’. When the Cyrus Cylinder, which dates from the 6th century BC was loaned by the British Museum on a ‘traveling exhibition” to the USA in 2013, Museum director Neil MacGregor declared that “the cylinder, often referred to “as the first bill of human rights”- must be shared as widely as possible.”
Iranians have compared President Trump to King Cyrus. I have always supported and admired President Trump and his great leadership. I hope he is not deceived by malicious advice of the Islamic regime’s agents who have infiltrated America. I pray he does not try to build his own legacy by undermining the proud identity of millions of Iranians.
Suppression of Women. Photos taken in western Tehran capture the presence of black clad women and armed men confronting women who did not wear a headscarf.
As an ordinary woman who lived under the tyranny of the evil Ayatollahs for 33 years and experienced many brutalities and misogyny under the harsh rules of Islam, I have never stopped warning my fellow Americans about the Islamic regime and its intentions and tactics to destroy America from within. Through NewPersia.org I educate Americans about Islam, and the Iranian people about their true history, and the importance of restoring our historic friendship with the Jewish people.
Angered Iranians. Women have been at the forefront of protests in Iran. (Photo: Hawar News Agency via AP)
President Trump can truly be the next Cyrus to help Iranians who have suffered under the ayatollahs, to restore their freedom and national honor. We must embolden the people, not erase pillars of their national pride by changing the name of the Persian Gulf.
And certainly not by negotiating with the evil Islamic Republic.
About the writer:
Marziyeh Amirizadeh is an Iranian American who immigrated to the US after being sentenced to death in Iran for the crime of converting to Christianity. She endured months of mental and physical hardships and intense interrogation. She is author of two books (the latest, A Love Journey with God), public speaker, and columnist. She has shared her inspiring story throughout the United States and around the world, to bring awareness about the ongoing human rights violations and persecution of women and religious minorities in Iran, www.MarzisJourney.com.
Marzi also is the founder and president of NEW PERSIA whose mission is to be the voice of persecuted Christians and oppressed women under Islam, expose the lies of the Iranian Islamic regime, and restore the relationships between Persians, Jews, and Christians. www.NewPersia.org.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Nearly executed like her cellmate affords understanding of the depravity and dangers of the Teheran regime.
By Marziyeh Amirizadeh
This year, more than ever, it’s impossible not to think about the execution of my best friend, Shirin Alamhooli on May 9, 2010. I met Shirin in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison where I had been arrested and sentenced to death by hanging because of converting to Christianity, a “crime” the Islamic regime calls “apostasy” and which carries a death penalty. I was arrested in March 2009. Shirin had already been in prison for some time as a political Kurdish prisoner.
Iranian Injustice. This photo of Shirin Alamhooli was taken by the writer while in Evin Prisonm Teheran. Shiran was executed on May 9, 2010. (Photo: Marziyeh Amirizadeh)
As a Christian, I had many people advocating for my freedom from the first day, and miraculously, I was released that November, and then came to America where I have become a proud citizen. Unfortunately, neither the world nor the terrorist Islamic regime cared about the life of a 28-year-old Kurdish woman. Shirin spent months being brutally tortured: repeatedly kicked in her stomach, bashing her head against the wall until she passed out, hanging her from the ceiling for hours on end, and beating her with a cable. They would only stop the torture for the Islamic prayer, to dedicate their savage acts to Allah. To satisfy him.
For months Shirin could not walk because the skin was torn from the bottom of her feet during the torture. Most of the time we would sit together and from a small window looked at the mountains beyond the walls of prison. She would sing a beautiful Kurdish song. She wished just to walk to the mountains freely, to fly away like a bird one more time.
At The Mercy Of Evil Men. Pakhshan Azizi, a Kurdish political prisoner and former aid worker, faces the confirmation of her death sentence by the Iranian Supreme Court.
We ate and talked together almost daily. She asked me to promise her that if I got released and she didn’t, to never stop fighting against the evil Islamic regime.
From the first day of my release, I started fighting for her release, even though I remained in mortal danger myself. I will never forget that horrific day I got a call from one of my cellmates still in prison:
“Marzi, Shirin was executed.”
…. then uncontrollable crying.
I felt like I died. I hung up the phone, and for a few hours I felt as if all my internal organs had frozen. My whole body froze. I could not move, talk, or think.
Along with my roommate, Maryam, with whom I had also been arrested and sentenced to death and then released, we went outside the prison with Shirin’s brother, pleading just to get her body to bury her with dignity. The prison authorities lied. They told us her body had been sent to the cemetery. We rushed there and they said they never received Shirin’s body. We returned to Evin Prison, begging them to give us her body. They refused, mocking us. Today, nobody knows her burial place, if she even has one.
Even 15 years later, Shirin’s execution is one of the most painful things in my life. Growing up in the Islamic Republic, there were many. This year we must take a lesson from her murder, as the Islamic regime remains the greatest threat to the US, and the world. I am pained that those leaders in my adopted country, which I love and am so grateful for, are being deceived by the notion that the ayatollahs can be rationalized with, that negotiation is anything more than a fool’s errand.
Indeed, the Iranian Islamic Republic cannot be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon – ever, under any circumstances. Negotiation will only give them time to bury their centrifuge deeper, and to hide the enriched uranium that has no civilian purpose. To be clear: if the Islamic Republic is able to acquire a nuclear weapon, they will use it. They will threaten the US and Israel, the “Great Satan,” and the “Little Satan.” They will establish a nuclear umbrella that will let them blackmail and terrorize the rest of the world. There is no doubt about this, yet too many in the West don’t realize it.
While all this is horrible, and is threatening, and cause enough to do everything possible to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, no less horrible is the cancerous threat of spreading of their evil, extremist Islamic ideology: in the US and the rest of the world. A nuclear bomb can kill millions instantaneously, but their dangerous ideology infects the whole world, spreading like a virus, and destroying and threatening millions from within over decades.
Condemned to Die. For 46 years, the gallows of the Islamic Republic have claimed countless women’s lives.
My friend Shirin is evidence of that. Arrested, tortured, and executed, she was one of millions of Iranians alone who are victims of this extremist ideology. While no level of torture is out of bounds in the Islamic Republic, according to their strict following of Islamic laws, it’s not allowed to execute a virgin. It is a known practice for women like Shirin, and others, that before being executed they are brutally raped, taking the level of obscenity beyond imagination. That’s another example of why negotiations are futile, and they can never be trusted.
I was supposed to be one of its victims too. Outside Iran, through its terrorist proxies around the world including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Syrian Assad regime, Kataib Hezbollah, and more, millions of others have been killed and maimed. Vast “no-go” neighborhoods of major European cities have become dangerous cesspools of Islamic hate.
The US and the world must be saved from this threat. But there’s another reason as well. For more than 46 years, 85 million Iranians have been held captive, hostage to the ayatollahs -victims of their lies. They have been repeatedly let down by the West looking to make a deal. The worst of these examples was President Obama who, while I was in prison, not only abandoned the Iranian people during the Green Movement, but sent billions of dollars to Iran, thinking that he could pay off the ayatollahs. Still today, Iranians consider Obama as having betrayed them.
Revelations from the Inside. In Captive in Iran, two courageous Iranian women – the writer and a former cellmate on death row in Evin Prison who made it out alive – recount their experiences in one of the world’s darkest places.
There have been reports of Islamic Republic, today, offering the US billions in contracts to rebuild Iran, but that is nothing more than extortion. In fact, the US can achieve unlimited potential and billions in contracts rebuilding Iran by doing everything possible to bring down the Islamic regime, making Iran and Iranians free, and eliminating the world’s greatest source of terror and war.
This is what needs to be done. While it cannot bring back Shirin, it will at least fulfill her wishes for a free Iran, and those of so many others who have suffered their brutality.
*Feature picture: Shirin Alam Holi, born in 1981 in a small village near Maku, executed in Evin Prison on May 9th 2010 after passing one year and nine months in prison. She was charged for cooperating with Pajak (Iranian branch of PKK) on Nov. 29th 2009 and sentenced to death. (Photos: Marziyeh Amirizadeh)
About the writer:
Marziyeh Amirizadeh is an Iranian American who immigrated to the US after being sentenced to death in Iran for the crime of converting to Christianity. She endured months of mental and physical hardships and intense interrogation. She is author of two books (the latest, A Love Journey with God), public speaker, and columnist. She has shared her inspiring story throughout the United States and around the world, to bring awareness about the ongoing human rights violations and persecution of women and religious minorities in Iran, www.MarzisJourney.com. Marzi also is the founder and president of NEW PERSIA whose mission is to be the voice of persecuted Christians and oppressed women under Islam, expose the lies of the Iranian Islamic regime, and restore the relationships between Persians, Jews, and Christians. www.NewPersia.org
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
A review of Solly Kaplinski’s evocative “Journeys into the Gentle Heart’ revealing the WHY of the WHO.
by David E. Kaplan
Travelling the length and breadth of Israel, you cannot fail to notice when visiting parks and forests, hospitals, water reservoirs, restored antiquities, universities and colleges, museums, kindergartens, special needs schools and other enriching medical, scientific or cultural institutions – the illuminating boards with the names of donors. These boards are an insight into the DNA of a special global Jewish community – a community of individuals who, having succeeded in their personal lives in the lands they live, then want to contribute to the success of the land of their collective dream – the eternal Jewish homeland of Israel.
Alongside the family names on these donor boards invariably appear the cities they hail from. Typically, you’ll see Sydney or Melbourne, Cape Town or Johannesburg, Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal, LA, Miami, Boston, Philadelphia or New York or multiple cities across Europe and the UK to name but a few. Short in wording, these donor boards are long in their message. It tells a story of a collective venture – and for many of them an “adventure” – of like-minded visionaries and of shared family values that transcends global geography, embraces Jewish history and ensures Jewish continuity.
Helping Hand. Over 20 years of working with philanthropists, Solly Kaplinski reaches out to donor families from Jewish communities around the world to learn what inspires or even “ignites” their passion to support causes in their home countries and Israel.
While earlier generations of philanthropists, notably the Rothschild and Montefiore families, contributed during the pioneering period to the creation and establishment of the Jewish state, the baton passed to ensuing generations who continued the legacy contributing to strengthening the state so that in the words of Israel’s illustrious diplomat, Abba Eban, “Israel’s futurewill be longer than its past.”
So, while we gaze at the donor boards and recognise many of the family names, what is less known is the ‘WHY’.
This is the question that fascinated Solly Kaplinski, who has spent much of his working life professionally engaging with “givers”. The result of his enquiry is his latest book ‘JOURNEYS INTO THE GENTLE HEART – The World Is Built With Kindness’, where Solly engages with 50 donor families, “who I know personally and with whom I worked – in some cases over a 20-year period. ”Most of the material “was solicited via a combination of interviews, drafts submitted and finessed, and zoom calls.” It makes fascinating reading and particularly instructive to those engaged in the multifaceted world of fundraising.
Solly has all the attributes to explore the world of Jewish philanthropy. An engaging personality, author, poet and the son of Holocaust survivors – his parents survived the Shoah as a member of the Bielski partisans in the forests of Poland – Solly, before settling in Israel with his family 25 years ago, headed Jewish Day Schools first in Cape Town in his native South Africa and later in Canada. In Israel, he went on to serve as Yad Vashem’s Director of the English Desk and thereafter served as the JDC’s Executive Director of Overseas Joint Ventures. These experiences gave Solly an amplified insight into the global world of Jewish philanthropy and to understand the mindset of donors.
Kaplinski’s‘Journeys into the Gentle Heart’ enables readers to accompany 50 storytellers from all over the world sharing their personal journeys, delving into what fuels their philanthropy. (Graphic design is by Leora Blum of Ra’anana)
An added dimension to his book is that it was written over a period of traumatic transition in the Jewish world covering pre and post the October 7, 2023 massacre. Has something fundamentally changed in the nature and scope of fundraising from pre to post October 7, 2023? Solly recalls in his foreward, a memory of the response of Jewish communities in South Africa and around the world “when confronted with Israel’s existential crises in the days leading up to the 6-Day War in June 1967, when mass graves were being prepared in Israel,” and how huge sums of money were raised with people “even pawning their jewelry and selling other items of value, to rally to the cause.”
Such was the passion and the commitment that has not only persisted but intensified over time. Rallying “to the cause” remains a key thread throughout Solly’s book and clearly reinforced following October 7.
“The massive challenge” in the post October 7 world, Solly writes, “is to focus on Israel’s long-term rehabilitation and reconstruction which will be incalculable.” His guess is that “donors will be faced with how to continue supporting the causes which speak most to them – and how to reconcile that, given the new realities of Israel’s desperate situation and plight, where one may feel obliged and compelled out of necessity, to engage in more Israel-centered philanthropy – a no-choice philanthropy. Of course, it doesn’t have to be an either-or choice: the pie can be expanded and there will be many who will give over and above.” I sense Solly is eluding here to the similarity of the calling today that transpired during the pre and post period of the 6-Day War.
Man on a Mission. Solly Kaplinski (right) on a JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) mission visiting local Jewish communities in Estonia, seen here in the capital Tallinn. (Photo: courtesy JDC)
Noting the current “frailty and fragility” of Israel’s current situation and “the horrific rise in antisemitism around the world,” Solly surmises that the current “joint partnership” between Israel and the Diaspora Jewry “may very well need to be refracted through a different prism.”
This intensified concern for Israel is shared by many of the donors Solly interviewed. Canadian philanthropist and corporate lawyer, Gail Asper from Winipeg, expressed that “…when Israel is in crisis as a result, for example, of the devastating and horrific attacks of October 7, 2023, I feel it is our responsibility to make Israel, the only home for the Jewish people, a top, unconditional priority.” President and a trustee of the Asper Foundation, Gail sums up a common sentiment of most donors when she concludes:
“If we all work together, we can ensure the Jewish people will flourish in perpetuity.”
In the same vein, Executive Director of ANKA Property Group, Vera Boyarsky from Sydney Australia believes:
“Without a healthy Israel we can’t hold our heads high and confidant. As my late father said, “Give till it hurts as it’s only money; the people in Israel are giving their lives.”
Set on addressing the needs of Israel’s tomorrows is Sir Mick Davis from London, whose brother Ricky Davis participated in Israel’s heroic Entebbe Raid of 1976. Says Davis:
“When this war is won…philanthropists will need to channel energy and passion into addressing the challenges of Israel’s future strength. For too long we have allowed massive economic, educational, and health disparities to fester in Israeli society, creating divisions that have been too easy for unscrupulous populists to exploit. We must strive to distribute access to the opportunities of Israel’s innovative economy the length and breadth of the country, across every section of the economy.”
Jewish Outreach. Inna Vdovychenko of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee meets with a Jewish senior in need in Odesa, Ukraine. (Photo: Courtesy JDC).
Davis sees the role of the philanthropist in “ensuring that Israel is able to maintain its qualitive edge in the years and decades to come,” and “while it is not ours to finish the job, our Jewish souls will not allow us to desist from it.”
In addition to a love of Israel is the aspect of family values, of instilling in the next generation the desire to contribute to the upliftment of those less fortune or in need. Both are best articulated by Jeremy Dunkel from Sydney, Australia:
“Philanthropy is often part of the conversation around our dinner table, as we hope to pass on our love for, and commitment to the global Jewish community to our children. The tragic events of October 7 have only reinforced this, illustrating that we are one people, and are collectively responsible for the welfare of our brothers and sisters in Israel, and throughout the Diaspora.”
Also emphasizing the enormous impact of October 7 is retired Baltimore judge, Ellen M. Heller. Raised in a modest “blue collar” East Baltimore neighborhood after the end of WWII “where we were the only Jewish family. My family, like others, lived modestly. Most of the clothes my sisters and I wore had been passed on by cousins.” For Ellen, October 7 is a date “that will always be in the annals of unthinkable, cruel pogroms against Jews: the slaughter of innocent people – grandparents, parents, children, infants. With this day of devastation, I have realized an important component of my philanthropy: the giving that comes from the emotion, the strong anguish to be of help and to save lives – in this instance Jewish lives, lives of our people. This giving derives from the basic instinct and determination that our people and the existence of our Jewish homeland must survive.”
For some of a particular generation, a strong motivation towards philanthropy has been the impact of the Holocaust. This is the case with Eva Fischl OAM, President of The Joint Australia, who defines herself “as a Holocaust survivor,” and says plainly, “my actions are a product of that definition.” Being a Holocaust survivor, “carries huge baggage around my survival. It depicts pain, anxiety, fear, sorrow, sometimes guilt of surviving with the knowledge that both family and others have died.” For Eva, it propelled a devotion “of 42 years of my life to my fellow Jews – anchored by the belief that the Shoah, the supreme example of rendering people powerless, behoves those that can – to help.”
So too are Lottie and Ervin Vidor from Sydney both Holocaust survivors, “who arrived in Australia with just the clothes on our backs.” Lottie came in 1949 “with my parents, after wandering around Poland for almost four years in the hope of getting a visa to the USA or Australia…”
For the Vidors, “…to support the local community as well as Israel is in our DNA – and makes us feel both humble and grateful.”
Originally from Cape Town South Africa Peter and Elaine Smaller from Sydney, have just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and are “enjoying the philanthropic side of our lives.” This would appear to be an important factor in sustaining enthusiasm for constantly giving. Peter says he grew up “in a household where philanthropy was ever present.” Of his parents, “I never heard them say no to anyone asking for help – both Jewish and non-Jewish causes.”
From War to Work. JDC has developed programs to help reservists and disabled veterans transition back to work and fill roles required by Israeli businesses in order to return to full productivity. Pictured here are reservists at a management training initiative. (Photo: Courtesy JDC).
Elaine sees the need “to build a strong Israel. Especially today. That sense of – we are nothing without a strong Israel-has driven my philanthropy. I am eternally grateful for those who live in Israel and face a daily existential threat, so that I can live in peace in the Diaspora.”
There are those that give out of deep religiosity. For Nicole Yoder of Jerusalem, “Giving reminds me that I have nothing that I didn’t receive as a blessing from above. This keeps me grounded. Giving enables me to express my compassion. I like to give where my giving can make a life changing difference to someone.” As Vice President for Aid & Aliyah at the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, “…it is a source of joy and fulfilment that the ICEJ has defended and stood with Israel, especially today.”
There are throughout instructive tidbits. For example, one anonymous donor from Washington, USA, expressed that what was especially important for him was “…that the maximum amount of my gift actually reaches the people in need and is not lost in the administration of the organization.” In this respect he refers to a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the early first century CE, Rabban Gamliel who once said, “Do not give an excess tithe through guesswork.” (Pirkei Avot 1:16).” In other words, “Do your homework!”
Miracle Makers. With entire cities and kibbutzim in Israel evacuated to hotels in the Dead Sea region, the JDC established temporary schools and kindergartens — in partnership with the Ministry of Education for 2,500 evacuated children also connecting these young people with teams of trauma psychologists. “Nothing Short of a Miracle”: Dead Sea Emergency Education …
For Kevin Kalinko of Sydney whose family supports many Israeli charities as well as local and international Jewish causes, one of the questions now being raised as they define their family’s philanthropic strategy is “Do we give more to fewer organizations or less to more organizations?” Wanting to optimize one’s impact, I assume it’s not an uncommon challenge to most philanthropists. An illuminating gem in the Kalinko interview was his recollection from his early 20s while backpacking in Turkey on a very tight budget, “I negotiated to buy yesterday’s bread for half price from the local bakery in Istanbul. One morning, I was sitting on the side of the road in front of the bakery, with yesterdays pide about to eat my breakfast,” when he noticed that the man sitting next to him had a selection of cheeses, olives, vegetables and bread. “He looked at my pide and back at his meal and then offered to share his meal. When I paid more attention to the man…I realized he was homeless. He had little to give but was willing to give that which was important him.” This story reminded me of Solly writing in his foreward of cases of Jews in the Diaspora in response to the 6-Day War of “even pawing their jewellery and selling other items of value, to rally to the cause.”
Solly delightfully likens a fundraiser to a shadchan – a matchmaker. He refers to a lesson he learnt from his teacher Rabbi Edward Abrahamson, “that a shadchan doesn’t just bring a man and a woman together to get married; he or she is giving them the great z’chut to find a partner in life, to raise a family – and to build a Jewish home. And in a similar vein, we as fundraisers, are helping donors to understand – and embrace the power that they have to do good and do what is just, right, honest and moral.”
In what motivates all these donors to so generously support causes “close to Home” – where ‘home’ could be the city where they live or their beloved Israel where their heart lies no less, I will end with Sara and Irwin Tauben of Montreal.
Active in India. Jewish philanthropy is not restrained by geography. Seen here is Solly Kaplinski, JDC’s Executive Director of Overseas Joint Ventures with professional JDC staff in Mumbai, India.
Like many of the donors in Solly’s book – as with Solly himself – the Holocaust casted a giant shadow over Irwin, whose parents were the “sole Shoah survivors of their families” and who came to Montreal “with nothing but love for each other and the will to succeed – and to give their family a better life.” One month after their arrival in Canada, Irwin was born.
Says Irwin who together with Sara, support causes in Canada, worldwide and Israel:
“My father used to tell us: ‘Never look up; always look down.’ This was his way of telling us not to envy those with more, but to be grateful that we can help those in need.”
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The book – useful for those in the field of fundraising and resource development – is available for free and can also be read free online at:www.journeysintothegentleheart.com
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Bibi, if you don’t or can’t stop the rot, it will consume all – is this what you want as your legacy?
By David E. Kaplan
If the ‘reason’ Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu presents for the firing of the country’s Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar is “a lack of trust”, then he should take cognizance that more than half the country feels the same way about him. A majority of Israelis, many of whom who voted for him, feel today of their prime minister – “a lack of trust”
By the same token as the fate befalling the internal security chief, should the prime minister not follow suit and exit office so that another can – not only lead – but restore a trust with the people of Israel, especially during a time of war that requires of its people unity not division and discord. This is not a right or left issue – it is a right and wrong issue!
Facing Off. Instead of fighting the enemy, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar (l) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (r) are now fighting each other with conflicting narratives. (Photos: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Like a lighthouse with its beam of light and loud foghorn warning of the danger to ships, Israel’s former esteemed Supreme Court justice, Aharon Barak, warns of the danger to the ship of state – Israel.
He fears his country is heading “to civil war.”
Who cannot fail to see and understand what is happening. The issues behind the groundswell of people out on the streets protesting during an existential war is being ignored by this government with a dismissive Marie-Antonette arrogance.
‘Lighthouse’ Barak asserts that “…the rift in the people is immense, with no effort made to heal it,” adding that if he were still chief justice, he would block the PM’s moves to fire the Shin Bet chief and attorney general which are pushing the country “toward civil war.”
The move by the prime minister by the way, marks the first time in Israeli history that the government has fired the head of the domestic security agency. His reasons for doing so are immersed not in the nation’s security but in this government’s insecurity. They are trying to avert an embarrassing enquiry called “Qatargate”, where it is alleged that close political advisors of the PM and a lieutenant colonel in the reserves, were involved in paid jobs for promoting the interests of the government of Qatar, an ally and financial supporter of Hamas. Irking the PM is that the Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, is investigating the affair, which he described as “complex and multi-faceted.” No doubt; and what is also ‘no doubt’ is that these allegations – if proven to be true – reflects on the porous nature of the country’s national security. Have ‘fences’ of a different kind been breached, not the variety on the Gaza border but from within the very inner sanctums of Israel’s highest political echelon?
No less irksome to Bibi has been Bar pushing for a state commission of inquiry into October 7, a powerhouse probe to be led by a retired Supreme Court justice. This Bibi, unsurprisingly, has rejected. The urgent national need for such an investigation, “cannot be subordinated,” says Bar “to the personal considerations of those involved in the matter, as it is the only way to ensure that such a multi-system failure will not occur again.”
Again, this is not a right or left issue – it is a right and wrong issue!
Speaking to Ynet news shortly before Netanyahu convened the cabinet to vote on firing Bar, Aharon Barak, who served as a Supreme Court justice from 1978 to 1995 and then elected as the court’s president retiring in 2006, said:
“…the main problem in Israeli society is… the severe rift between Israelis.”
This rift now has momentum and is accelerating “and in the end,” said Barak, “I fear, it will be like a train that goes off the tracks and plunges into a chasm, causing a civil war.”
Anxious Aharon. Former Chief Justice of Israel’s Supreme Court, Aharon Barak warns of deepening internal divisions, criticizing government’s moves on judiciary and opposes dismissal of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar – urging compromise to prevent further democratic erosion. (Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch)
Instead of toning down the temperature, the PM and his cabinet ministers – notably the high-profilers and moral defilers of the likes of Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich – are by their conduct and rhetoric, inflaming tensions. Not only do they ignore the most respected and revered justice in Israel’s history but they dismiss him with such comments like from fellow MK and coalition partner, Almog Cohen of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party who said that Barak is “a reckless and irresponsible man,” who was “sent to issue a Sicilian mafia-style threat of blood in the streets and civil war.”
With mounting protests, who are in the words of Almog Cohen being “reckless” and “irresponsible”?
With the constant concern and trauma of our remaining hostages in captivity, where is the responsible leadership to stop this downward spiral into the abyss?
Even President Trump’s Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, says Netanyahu’s methods in Gaza are against Israeli public opinion:
“I think Bibi believes that he’s doing the right thing. [However],I think he goes up against public opinion ’cause the public opinion [in Israel] wants those hostages home.”
Bibi looks for false support of the “will of the People” though the last election in 2022. Hardly persuasive when this supposed “will” is a result of a deviously concocted coalition, where his religious coalition partners that so enable him with vital votes, do not believe in the state of Israel nor serve in its defense and extort sizable chunks of the national budget for their causes that are at odds with the country’s national interest. Some “will of the People” the PM relies on to support his increasingly unpopular positions! Clutching at straws, he usurps Trump rhetoric of a “deep state” but there is no “deep state” only deep trouble this government is finding itself emersed in. As the former chief justice says:
“We’re not the United States; we don’t have a deep state here. We have loyal public servants here, and they do things according to the law.”
Nation on the Edge. “I think he goes up against public opinion,” says US Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff (l) of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu(r). (Photo collage: Lior Segev, Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein,Reuters/Nathan Howard)
According to a Channel 12 opinion poll, 51% of Israelis oppose the firing of Bar, compared to 32% who back his dismissal, while 46% say they trust Bar more than they trust the prime minister.
These polls are hardly surprising and may explain why “Today there are demonstrations,” continues Barak, who warns of the societal fragility in the current climate and unforeseen incidents that can spark matters out of control. He refers to the car that drove into an anti-Netanyahu protest in Jerusalem when a driver rammed into a protester, injuring him. If this trajectory continues, Barak cautions:
“… tomorrow there will be shootings, and the day after that there will be bloodshed… ”
If warnings about October 7 were ignored, what is the excuse of this government to warnings of a people’s growing discontent to bulldozing policies that are anathema to this country’s DNA? With turmoil on our streets amidst an existential war on multiple fronts, editor Zvika Klein of The Jerusalem Post writes:
“With a war on seven fronts that appears to have no end in sight, a growing social split of historic proportions, and a rising cost of living, it can feel now as if it will never get any better, that we will never get past this point.”
It must and it will.
Israel needs now – more than ever – is a responsible leadership that is ready to run and not ruin the country!
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
A new wall has appeared along the highway near Israel’s southern town of Sderot.
Since the war began, the train has been forced to take a long detour to reach Sderot because this stretch of track is visible from Gaza—leaving it vulnerable to anti-tank missiles. Now, a wall stands to block the view, ensuring that terrorists in Gaza can no longer take aim at the train—or at least not as easily. Walls don’t erase reality. The terrorists know where the tracks are. They can check the schedule online, just like any commuter.
With enough determination, any wall can be breached.
This wall gives the train something to hide behind. It offers the illusion of security, not real safety. True security doesn’t come from barriers. It comes from eliminating the threat—the people who wake up one morning and decide they want to blow up a train full of Israelis.
If you get close enough, you’ll see frustration and deep anguish scrawled across the wall in spray paint: “Another wall?! Have you lost your mind?!”
Hiding behind walls didn’t stop the Gazan invasion. In many cases, the bomb shelters families were hiding in became death traps.
The Purpose of the War
When the full horror of the October 7 invasion became clear—the torture, rape, burning, slaughtering, and kidnapping of men, women, children, and the elderly—most Israelis awoke from the Oslo dream of peace with our neighbors. We could no longer afford illusions.
When people declare their intent to kill us, meticulously plan to do so, and seize every opportunity to act on those plans—we must take them at their word.
Most Israelis saw the massacre and burned with rage that became ice-cold clarity: When we said NEVER AGAIN, this is what we meant. Never again would we allow Jews to be slaughtered, tortured, or used as playthings for sadistic monsters who revel in human suffering.
On October 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear: “We are at war—not an ‘operation,’ not a ‘round,’ but war.” Since then, he has repeatedly outlined three war objectives—none of which can be compromised:
Return the hostages—both the living and the dead.
Ensure Israelis can safely return to their homes near Gaza (later expanded to include those displaced from the northern border).
Ensure that Gaza can never again be a threat to Israel.
The Hostages—and the True Measure of Victory
The plight of our hostages has rightfully consumed much of our attention. Everyone—without exception—agrees: we must bring them home. All of them, both the living and the dead. We, the nation and our government, owe this to those we failed to protect on that terrible day.
The Israeli government has gone to extreme—and dangerous—lengths to secure the release of the hostages. Hundreds of terrorists have been freed from our prisons, giving them the opportunity to strike again. For Hamas (in Gaza and Judea & Samaria), this is a victory that gives them enormous prestige, the ability to restructure their chain of command and recruit new fighters (who believe that if caught by Israel, they will be released in future ransom deals. The temporary ceasefire has also given Hamas time to prepare for the next battle. The more time that goes by, the more dangerous it will be for IDF troops.
The government made a calculated choice: to risk the future security of every Israeli to rescue as many hostages as possible now. Truthfully, the supposed future risk is not in the future. It is already here.
And with all that, somewhere along the way, many lost sight of the bigger picture. Rescuing the hostages is our moral duty, but it is not the measure of victory.
Israeli media is flooded with voices—self-proclaimed experts, analysts with impressive titles, and understandably distraught family members—arguing that returning the hostages will be our triumph. that bringing the hostages home is the sole objective. That there is no need for revenge. That the war must end.
These ideas are unacceptable. Completely unacceptable.
The Writing on the Wall
That graffiti—“Another wall?! Have you lost your mind?!”—is a scream for real security.
It declares that it is unacceptable for genocidal monsters to live on our doorstep.
Unacceptable to keep hiding behind walls.
Unacceptable and deadly dangerous to mistake the illusion of safety for real security—when in reality, the enemy is always trying to breach our defenses, to invade and slaughter.
That graffiti is a warning. A warning that if we keep pretending, if we keep avoiding the root of the problem, we will face another October 7.
The story of the Idan family makes this painfully clear.
The Idan Family
The Hamas invaders filmed their atrocities, broadcasting their glee as they tortured, burned, and slaughtered.
The footage from the Idan home is something I will carry with me forever. Watching Gali Idan, in the worst moment of her life, gave me an awe-inspiring lesson in what courage looks like.
When I first saw the video, I didn’t yet know that Tzachi Idan had been taken hostage to Gaza—his hands still soaked in his daughter’s blood.
On February 27, 2025, Hamas returned his body as part of a ceasefire deal, along with the remains of three other Israeli hostages: Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi, and Shlomo Mantzur. Tzachi was laid to rest in Kibbutz Einat, next to his daughter, Maayan.
The video from their home needs to be seen. You do not see any of the violence or bloodshed on screen. What you see is terrible enough – what the family experienced and their response. There are abbreviated versions of this video online because, supposedly, people cannot pay attention longer than a few minutes.
Pay attention we should. Imagine being in their place – because it is only by the grace of God that we were not.
18 year old Maayan was shot in the head, in front of her parents, her then 11 year old sister Yael and 19 year old brother Shahar. Terrorists are in their home and none of them know what will happen next. The Red Alert siren blares repeatedly, warning of incoming rockets.
Gali, a ferocious lioness, trying to protect the lives of her children. Tzachi, his hands soaked with Maayan’s blood, trying to be a stalwart backbone for his family. The children, trying to understand what they are seeing. Shahar quietly asking his mother: Is it over? Is it over?
Watch and put yourself in their place.
The invaders took Tzachi to Gaza. His wife and surviving children received intermittent signs of life, a flicker of hope that he could be rescued—until they learned that he was murdered in captivity.
After 510 days, Tzachi’s body was brought home but that is not enough to make it safe for Gali and her children to return home.
How can they?
They know the truth: that their safe room became a death trap. That their sister was murdered. Their father was taken and tortured by the same people who still live just across the border. That those monsters are still there, still dreaming of the next October 7.
How can any Israeli parent bring their children back to live next to Gaza—if Gaza is still full of Gazans?
The war cannot end until it is safe for the Idan family to go home. Until it is safe for all of us to go home. And safety will only come when Gaza is no longer a threat to Israel.
Another wall is insanity. Another wall is an invitation for another invasion, another massacre.
Liberating the hostages is crucial—but it is not the measure of victory. Real safety for every Israeli, ensuring our future, is.
About the writer:
Forest Rain Marcia is an American-born Israeli who lives in northern Israel. She’s a branding expert and storyteller. Her passion is giving voice to the stories of Israel illuminating its profound events, cherished values, and exemplary role models that transcend borders, casting Israel as an eternal wellspring of inspiration and strength for a global audience. Forest Rain made Aliyah at the age of thirteen. After her IDF service, she co-developed and co-directed a project to aid victims of terrorism and war. These activities gave her extensive first-hand experience with the emotional and psychological processes of civilians, soldiers, and their families, wounded and/or bereaved and traumatized by terrorism and war (grief, guilt, PTSD, etc). Throughout the years, she has continued to voice the stories, pain, and strength of traumatized Israelis to motivate others to provide support and counter the hate that threatens Jews in Israel, around the world, and Western civilization itself through the understanding that what begins with the Jews never ends with Jews.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
This burst of extraordinary artistic creativity in Israeli society has been unleashed by the painful reality of war and by all the Jewish blood that was so savagely spilled on October 7, 2023. The country has been traumatized and is in constant mourning. Their art is evocative and original and provides a therapeutic healing to restore and make whole again.
While travelling, I constantly heard the strains of classical piano playing in the subways and bus stations and the ever-present sidewalk guitar solos, all very accomplished musicians. Music brings us joy and comfort; it motivates us and calms the soul.
I visited an art exhibition at ANU Museum of the Jewish People on the campus of the Tel Aviv University entitled “October Seventh”. The exhibitioncurates a body of gut-wrenching emotive and evocative work by 25 artists; some are living, some are deceased including those who were murdered on October 7th or died during the ensuing war and those who survived and suffered the loss of loved ones, the destruction of their homes or whose families were gravely impacted by the horrors of the massacre.
These works of art reveal the hidden edges of the artists’ souls and portray the unimaginable. Like a fresh wound, there is so much pain residing in the sanctuary of their minds. Not only are these works a representation of the face of one’s life or to lay bare the unanswered questions, but a warning – like the all too familiar ‘SIREN’ – to be ever-watchful for the enemy. These disturbing images succeed in pushing our boundaries and provoking us; revealing deeper truths of our society. Much of this art resonates with oneself and imparts an overwhelming feeling of emptiness, helplessness, despair, and to a degree, fear. I was trembling as emotions I had never felt before were washing over me; all in total silence.
Burying our Dead. October Seventh photographic exhibition at the ANU Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv.
It has been stated that war and suffering stultify artistic creativity and becomes the death of our dreams. The poet’s voice is silent; the sculptor does not wield his chisel nor does the painter dip his brush. The roiling of the normal and of the natural “According to Diane Sophrin – Art and Life 6/21/20)”, has revealed the pain in the dark crevices of our collective anguish as we cling tenaciously onto hope and life; while art seeps in and out of the pores of Israel…
To this point, an exhibition plaque reads:
“It has been said that “when the canons are heard, the Muses are silent”. The need to survive is thought to quiet ideas, thoughts, and creation. This notion seems to have turned on its head in this war, and we are experiencing an abundance of creativity in all art fields. As the canons are heard, the voices of the Muses are emerging all the more clearly from deep down in the throat.”
October Seventh Exhibition – ANU, Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv.
“Among first to give voice to our collective grief were Israeli musicians. The musicians provided temporary relief for people who survived the unthinkable trauma or were about to leave for war. They played at funerals and hospitals, performed for evacuees from the South and the North, for survivors of the music festival’s massacres, and soldiers at meeting points. They often performed only with a guitar – and a lot of soul.”
(Excerpt from the curator of the October Seventh exhibition- ANU Museum of the Jewish People)
SINCE 7/10 WE CAN’T BREATHE – HELP US! This painting captures not only the plight of the hostages but the people of Israel who cry in anguish unreleased from suffering. (ANU Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv).
I stare in awe at this painting, take my cue from the text, and literally have to catch my “breath”. I ponder: “Can art that provokes such powerful emotions affect change in Israeli society?” Mesmerized, I am reminded by a quote from Berthold Brecht:
“Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”
Reminiscent of the iconic image of IDF soldiers carrying an injured comrade whether from battle or a military exercise, I stare at this painting and see the weight of a bruised and battered nation on the shoulders of its people. (ANU Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv).
ANU Museum of The Jewish People, Tel Aviv.
I stop, step back to process, and see how the artist has turned Matisse’s famous ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’ into a Nova Music Festival crime scene with butchered, murdered, naked women splatted with blood. It is horrifying but what Hamas perpetrated was precisely that – a horrifying mass murder crime scene !
I continue and am confronted by a painting of a map of massacre and murder. Interspersed between the now familiar names of towns and kibbutzim I’ve gleaned from the news, are the sites where on “October Seventh”, the killings took place.
ANU Museum of The Jewish People, Tel Aviv
Women were in the forefront of what transpired on October Seventh. They fought and died with their male peers. In the painting ‘Blood Covenant’ below, the artist Irit Regev, whose daughter-in-law is a survivor of the Kibbutz Or Haner massacre, paints in homage to the woman fighters – ‘First Sergeant P. and her dog Bingo’.
‘Blood Covenant’ by Irit Regev. ANU Museum of The Jewish People, Tel Aviv.
That there was little chance for escape for most the young revelers at the Nova Music Festival was captured by this photograph below at the Burnt Car Cemetery. How could one not fail to think: “Who were the young people in this car and what they went through?”
Haunted Graveyard. Israeli Vehicles Damaged on October 7 (ANU Museum of The Jewish People, Tel Aviv).
When words are not enough to express our feelings, we need another “language”. Art enables us to confront suffering, to connect with our emotions and release our inner thoughts. Art is a pathway to self-discovery and consoles our wounds. I could see as I toured Israel, this will take time – maybe a very long time.
In an art gallery in Zichron Yakov, south of Haifa, I saw attached to a public wall, a glass shadow box, not with typical jewelry inside but dismembered Barbie Doll body parts, while in Sderot, which terrorists turned into a city of slaughter, I focused my camera on a wall mural opposite the destroyed police station, today a memorial, detailing the Lion of Judah – the traditional symbol of resilience in Judaism – and the lioness protecting her metaphorical young. From our car window, while driving around Sderot, where terrorists mowed down anyone they saw from their pickup trucks, I saw peering at me from a hedge an image of a haunting face of a young woman hiding in fear.
Barbie Body Parts. Artist unknown at art gallery in Zichron Yakov (Photo: Michael Witkin).
Roar of Resilience. Detail of mural on a side wall of a residential building in Sderot projecting Jewish resilience. (Photo: Michael Witkin)
I snapped this shot as we passed a hedge and saw this face of a woman hiding in fear. (Photo: Michael Witkin).
At the iconic Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, a large evocative sculpture of a chained heart glistening in blood. I saw whimsical little pottery-people sitting on a bench on a ledge or scaling the wall on the side of a house. There is sculpture made from the remains of cars hit by RPG’s while kids burned alive inside as they tried to flee the Nova Music Festival.
All this and more bares testimony to such savagery wreaked upon them that fateful day. They just wanted to love life and listen to music.….
Heavy Heart. Chained bloodied heart at Hostages Square, Tel Aviv (Photo: Michael Witkin).
And then there is our Nemesis, the same blackness and savagery of Amalek, Haman and Hitler …the insidious skull of Hamas devouring limbs……
Grotesque Graffiti. Skull of Hamas – Street art Tel Aviv. (Photo: Michael Witkin).
Cries from the City. ‘Bring Them Home Now’ is the message throughout Israel as exhibited on a city wall in south Tel Aviv. (Photo: Michael Witkin).
There are many quotations supporting the notion of the power of art and how it helps us overcome trauma and hardship. Here is an excerpt that resonates powerfully:
“I hold the deepest gratitude to Art, for she has led me to places I never expected to travel. The making, the crafting of art soothes, stimulates, quiets, engages, frustrates, calms and stirs my soul. It makes me feel alive. My inspiration flows intuitively from the stuff of life – Revealing the remarkable within the ordinary, Leading me towards my truest spiritual self, Urging me to see the entire world before I die…..” (Article: Art as Healing by Heidi Darr-Hope)
Art reminds us of the enduring power of creativity and the transformative healing power of artistic expression. Art does help to heal; for it is in this pursuit that we find a deeper understanding of ourselves and a connection to something larger than ourselves. Yes indeed, a picture can convey more truth and emotions than a thousand words ever could……
OCTOBER SEVENTH EXHIBITION – ONLINE TOUR
*Feature picture: A poignant message of resilience perched on a piano in Hostages and Missing Square in Tel Aviv. (Photo by Abigail K. Leichman).
About the writer:
Raised in Cape Town, South Africa and a graduate in architecture from the University of Cape Town in 1976, Michael Witkin‘s first commission was the Mosque and Madrasa in the oppressed black neighborhood of Hanover Park where he also helped to raise money and acquire donated building materials. He also designed emergency low-income housing units using waterproofed heavy-duty corrugated cardboard. With the birth of his first child, he designed and manufactured a portable baby bassinet; and was involved in other pioneering projects including water recycling. Michael immigrated to San Diego where he had a successful architectural practice for 28 years; and a construction company for 13 of those years. He served as president of the North County American Institute of Architects and chaired the design review board for the San Diego City Development Corporation for many years. Additionally, he critiqued students at the School of Architecture in design. He has 4 children and moved to Michigan 15 years ago. Besides commercial and residential projects, he specializes in religious buildings, grows flowers and build furniture and charcuterie boards from exotic hardwoods.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Hostages Square in Tel Aviv could so easily be called Sombre Square as it captures the mood and exudes the anxiety of a nation
While Tel Aviv has notable popular public squares like ‘Dizengoff Square’, ‘Habima Square’ and ‘Rabin Square’ – all associated with both the history and cultural life of Israel’s most vibrant city – its newest named Hostages Square is probably today, the most familiar to people across the world. It is not surprising why.
Located on the city’s King Saul Boulevard in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Hostages Square is seen daily on international TV news networks as people from across Israel congregate on this now sacred ground to demand the return of the hostages held in cruel captivity in Gaza. The site of daily press conferences and constant rallies about the hostage situation following Hamas’ brutal massacre on October 7, Hostages Square is not only a place in Tel Aviv, it is a place in the heart of Jewish people around the world.
One of the many thousands who visit Hostages Square every day, was photojournalist Harold Silber, a former South African, now resident in Netanya, Israel. Below is his personal narrative as seen through his camera lens. His focus is on the people – their postures and their expressions as they convey anxiety, hope, fear and the moments of joy, when news breaks of a hostage release. It is more of this welcome news, that the message from Hostages Square reverberates across Israel to the entire world.
David E. Kaplan Editor, Lay of the Land
By Harold Silber
Hostages Square, a public plaza in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, has become a place of gathering, commemoration, protest, hope, mourning, prayer, and vigilance, bringing hundreds of people together since the horrific attacks of October 7.
Clutching a dog-tag and a yellow “Bring Them Home” ribbon, an attendee at Hostages Square watches a live TV broadcast of the release of three hostages last Saturday
Emotions run high during hostage-release broadcasts at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. The sharing of emotions creates a bond between the many who gather, contrasting elation with pain, and hope with despair.
Teddy bears with embroidered messages have become a poignant symbol of the heartbreak of the hostages and the families left behind. Limor Elishoov holds an armful of her teddy bears during a hostage-release broadcast at Hostages Square.
Yellow Ribbons first became popular as a symbol of public support for Americans held hostage in Iran in 1979. Now, as worn here at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, they have become a symbol of hope for millions of people around the world, in the aftermath of the terrible attacks and the capture of hostages by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.
A heartfelt gesture highlights the mix of emotions felt by attendees at a hostage-release broadcast event at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.
“Unbelievable, unacceptable, unbearable”, reads the embroidered message on a heart held by a blindfolded teddy bear in a cage, in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.
The sight of a released hostage, seen on a giant TV screen in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, evokes a gesture of hope and relief for a yellow-ribboned observer.
The slogan – “LET THEM GO” – on a t-shirt in Hostages Square echoes the ancient injunction of Exodus, reflected in the weary eyes of an observer at a hostage-release broadcast.
Tunnel Vision – a replica of a Hamas terror tunnel at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv captures the grim conditions endured by hostages taken by terrorists during the attacks of October 7, 2023.
Jubilation greets the release of Naama Levy, one of four hostages released from Hamas captivity on a recent Saturday at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. On the morning of 7 October 2023, during the Hamas attack on Israel, Naama was abducted from the IDF surveillance base at Nahal Oz near the Gaza–Israel barrier.
Framed by posters of hostages, an attendee at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv reacts to the televised release of a group of hostages.
Wearing an Israeli flag and a ‘Bring them Home’ ribbon, a furry faithful friend takes a break at a recent hostage-release gathering in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.
A place of tears, joy, hope, righteous anger and above all, the spirit embodied by Am Yisrael Chai, Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square is the eternal reminder that in spite of it all, Israel is alive.
About the photojournalist:
Harold Silber Born in South Africa, Harold made aliyah to Israel in 2010. “With a deep love for this land, I capture and share its stories through photography and video. My work, followed by over 10,000 on Facebook, reflects Israel’s beauty, resilience, and spirit.” Harold resides in the Mediterranean coastal city of Netanya, Israel.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
Trump’s Administration Should Reject Ebrahim Rasool as South Africa’s Ambassador.
By Kenneth Mokgatlhe wa Kgwadi
Ebrahim Rasool, a veteran leader within the African National Congress (ANC), has served as South Africa’s ambassador to Washington for two separate terms. His reappointment last year has sparked significant controversy. The United States should reject Rasool’s continued ambassadorship due to his alleged connections to international terrorism, his explicit support for extremist organizations such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and his historical role in straining U.S.-South Africa relations.
On a collision course. Ebrahim Rasool , who is heading back to the US for a second term as South Africa’s ambassador this time to a Trump and not an Obama administration, supports extremist organizations such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Rasool’s tenure as a political figure and diplomat has been marked by his advocacy for causes that align with organizations designated as terrorist groups by many Western nations. His alleged ties to Hamas and PIJ raise serious concerns about his ability to represent South Africa’s interests without compromising the nation’s international standing. Through his influence within the ANC, Rasool has been accused of advancing a narrative that demonizes Israel while promoting the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood – a controversial Islamist organization with global influence. Such actions have alienated significant segments of the global community and South Africa’s diverse population.
During his previous term as ambassador, Rasool’s actions reportedly undermined the historically strong relationship between South Africa and the United States. This relationship, characterized by mutual economic and political benefits, is of paramount importance. The United States is South Africa’s second-largest trading partner after China, and jeopardizing this partnership is ill-advised. Rasool’s divisive rhetoric and controversial affiliations have already strained this relationship, and his reappointment risks further deterioration.
The Biden administration’s patience with South Africa has been notable, especially following the controversial docking of the Russian cargo ship Lady R at Simon’s Town Naval Base, which raised suspicions of South Africa’s support for Russia during its invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, South Africa’s decision to bring Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on allegations of genocide in Gaza has exacerbated tensions with the U.S., a staunch ally of Israel. These developments highlight the precarious nature of U.S.-South Africa relations, which Rasool’s continued ambassadorship could further jeopardize.
Anti-Israel activist Ambassador. South Africa’s re-appointed terror-connected Islamist diplomat Ebrahim Rasool as its ambassador to the US, has in more recent years built a reputation for his anti-Israel activism and trumpeting of South Africa’s efforts to persuade the International Court of Justice that Israel wields an “intent to commit genocide.”
Rasool’s political career within South Africa has not been without controversy. As a leader in the ANC, he failed to secure the Western Cape province for the party, which repeatedly lost to the Democratic Alliance (DA) under his watch. The ANC’s hopes that Rasool would consolidate Muslim electoral support in the province proved futile. His inability to deliver politically raises questions about his effectiveness as a representative of South Africa’s interests on the global stage.
South Africa’s participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has been a cornerstone of its economic relationship with the United States. This agreement provides South African products, brands, and services with access to one of the world’s largest markets. However, the U.S. has reportedly considered withdrawing South Africa’s AGOA benefits due to recent geopolitical tensions and South Africa’s perceived alignment with authoritarian regimes such as Russia and China.
Rasool’s continued ambassadorship could exacerbate these tensions, potentially leading to economic repercussions for South Africa. His alleged involvement in mobilizing financial support for extremist organizations not only tarnishes South Africa’s reputation but also undermines the economic stability that AGOA provides. It is nonsensical to risk such an important economic relationship over actions that yield no tangible benefits for South Africa.
Rasool’s diplomatic efforts have often appeared to prioritize relationships with autocratic governments and organizations that have little regard for democracy or human rights. His alleged ties to Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, as well as his support for regimes in Iran, China, and Russia, run counter to South Africa’s stated foreign policy pillars of promoting democracy and human rights. These affiliations not only damage South Africa’s international standing but also divert attention from the nation’s pressing domestic challenges.
Birds of a Feather. Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool who is proud to reveal that Hamas founder Sheikh Yassin, is “one of the greatest inspirations”, is seen here handing a copy of his book to Turkish Islamist leader President Erdoğan(Photos: Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool’s Facebook page)
South Africa’s role within the BRICS economic bloc has become increasingly controversial with the inclusion of Iran, a nation widely criticized for its human rights abuses and support for terrorism. Rasool’s advocacy for closer ties with Iran and other BRICS members risks alienating South Africa from its traditional allies in the West. While BRICS aims to establish an alternative global economic order, its alignment with authoritarian regimes undermines the principles of democracy and human rights that South Africa purports to uphold.
The Hamas Connection. While premier of the Western Cape in 2007, Ebrahim Rasool hosted Mohammed Nazzal (seen above), a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau. In 2024, the U.S. government designated Nazzal, Rasool’s Hamas contact, as one of the “key officials …. who facilitate their terrorist activities,” and coordinates “the transfer of money and goods into Gaza.”
Ebrahim Rasool’s reappointment as South Africa’s ambassador to the United States poses significant risks to both nations. His alleged ties to extremist organizations, divisive political history, and prioritization of autocratic alliances over democratic values make him an unsuitable representative. The United States, as South Africa’s critical trading partner and ally, should reconsider its acceptance of Rasool as ambassador.
For South Africa, the stakes are high. The nation’s economic future, international reputation, and adherence to democratic principles hang in the balance. Appointing a diplomat who embodies these values is essential for preserving South Africa’s relationships with its allies and ensuring a prosperous future for its citizens.
Rasool calls for support for SA’s move to take Israel to ICC
About the writer:
A writer, researcher, and analyst, Kenneth Mokgatlhe wa Kgwadi is reading for his Master of Arts in African Studies at the Israeli-based Ben Gurion University of the Negev.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
